Rufunsa District Commissioner, Richard Mabena has called on farmers to embark on winter cropping to mitigate the hunger situation in the area.
Mr Mabena says winter cropping is one way of mitigating the effects of the dry spell that the country experienced.
Speaking when he visited the farm of Elias Kachali of Kankumba Ward who has embarked on irrigation farming, Mr Mubena said Rufunsa has a lot of wetlands and boreholes that people should utilize to embark on irrigation instead of relying on rain fed cropping.
He further urged the farmers to spare some piece of land where they can be doing irrigation farming.
“As Government we are encouraging all those farmers that have land and water points to emulate Mr. Kachali by engaging into winter farming,” he said.
And Mr Kachali said farmers cannot go wrong with irrigation farming as they are able to cultivate throughout the year.
He said with the one borehole at his farm, he has managed to cultivate two hectares of land where he is expecting to harvest over 150 by 50Kg bags of white maize.
“When I saw what had happened in the last farming season, where we experienced the drought, I thought of engaging myself in irrigation farming using the one borehole at the farm and the maize is doing fine,” said Mr. Kachali.
He added that he planted the maize on 1st March, and expects to start harvesting the first portion by the end of June.
“Am encouraging fellow farmers especially those who have water points to engage in irrigation farming as this will help in improving food security not only in our homes but also the surrounding community,” he added.
Mr Kachali said his vision is to have five boreholes so that he expands the irrigation project from the current three hectares to seven.
The Government through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender Division and other Line Ministries are on the ground promoting the engagement of farmers into winter cropping and irrigation farming to enhance food security in times of droughts.
